Journey to Petalburg
by violetta09
Summary: After losing in the Sinnoh League, Paul has since started traveling in the Hoenn Region. After an accidental run-in with Dawn, the two decide to travel together to Petalburg City, the site of their next gym battle and contest. An unlikely friendship forms...but could it lead to something more? Ikarrishipping! Rated M just to be safe for later chapters
1. An Unexpected Encounter

**Hey guys! This is my first attempt at an ikarishipping fic. Basically, we're just going to pretend that Paul never traveled to the Hoenn region before the events of the Sinnoh Saga. This first chapter is a little bit slow but I promise things will start rolling :) Happy reading!**

As Lavaridge Town finally came into view, Paul began to prepare himself for his upcoming gym battle against Flannery. Having been defeated by Ash in the quarterfinals of the Sinnoh League, and by Brandon once again at the Battle Pyramid, Paul has since begun traveling in the Hoenn region, in hopes of entering the Hoenn league as a way of training for a rematch against Brandon, and Ash. Though he now had a newfound respect for his rival, the loss still stung, and Paul vowed that the next time they battled, things would be different.

Reaching the door of the Lavaridge town gym, Paul knocked, and a few moments later the door opened and a young girl stepped out.

"Hello, are you here for a gym battle?," she asked.

"That's right," Paul replied. "My name's Paul and I was hoping to challenge Flannery to a battle today."

"I'm sorry," the little girl replied. "I'm Flannery's sister Lyla, and I'm afraid she's gone off to the volcano to train for today. She'll be back tomorrow, so you'll have to wait till then."

"Tomorrow it is then," Paul said shortly, as he turned away.

He decided to head to the Pokemon Center and rest for the day, since it had been a long journey from Mauville City and his Pokemon didn't really need any more training. However, on his way there, a giant screen on top of a large building caught his attention. His eyes widened as he realized that the girl on the screen was none other than Dawn, Ash's traveling companion from the Sinnoh region, and she was obviously competing in the appeals round of the Lavaridge Contest. Paul hesitated for a minute, then decided since he had time to kill anyway he might as well go in and watch. He would simply leave before the end so that he would never have to cross paths with the bluenette. With that, he opened the door and stepped into the contest hall.

* * *

 **Dawn's POV**

"Alright Piplup and Pachirisu, are you guys ready?"

"Lup!"

"Chu-pa!"

"Alright then! Let's go get our third Hoenn ribbon!" Dawn exclaimed. Piplup and Pachirisu cheered again, and Dawn put the finishing touches into her hair, returned Piplup and Pachirisu back to their Pokeballs, and placed the proper seals on both of them. Just then, the announcer's voice boomed throughout the waiting room.

"The next contestant is Dawn! Dawn, please be ready to enter the stage!"

Dawn took a deep breath and walked through the doors into the long hall. Just as she reached the end the previous performer had just finished her routine with a Plusle and Minun, and by the looks of the audience she had done a pretty amazing performance.

"My my that sure was some performance!" The announcer exclaimed. "Even the judges were thoroughly impressed! But now let's give it up for our next contestant, it's Dawn!" The curtains drew and Dawn raced out from the beneath.

"Piplup, Pachirisu, spotlight!" she said as she threw her pokeballs into the air.

Piplup and Pachirisu exploded out in a whirlwind of sparks, and landed skillfully on the ground with a pose.

"Piplup use Ice Beam, and Pachirisu, Discharge!"

Piplup and Pachirisu lept into the air and fired off their moves, which collided with one another and created a beautiful series of iridescent yet sparking fireworks. The cheer of the crowd gave Dawn more confidence as she yelled out her next combination.

"Now Pachirisu, use Discharge one more time, and Piplup, Whirlpool!"

"Unbelievable!" exclaimed the announcer. "The Discharge and Whirlpool have fused together into a super charged Whirlpool! What a dangerous and yet beautiful combination!"

"Now let's finish this! Piplup use Drill Peck, and Pachirisu use Super Fang!"

The two Pokemon's moves sliced the sparking Whirlpool in pieces, and each part exploded into a myriad of sparks that glistened in the droplets of water. Dawn, Piplup and Pachirisu and bowed and the audience all went wild. Dawn happily waved and thanked the audience. Little did she know that in the second to last row Paul was there intently watching her performance.

"Wow, you guys were great!" Dawn exclaimed as she and her two Pokemon walked back towards the waiting room. "If we keep this up our third ribbon is as good as ours!"

Her two Pokemon cheered happily

* * *

Paul had watched Dawn's performance intently. He had been interested in seeing if she had improved at all. Though he told himself it was absolutely not intentionally, Paul had happened to watch several of the contests Dawn had competed in in the Sinnoh region on TV. He distinctly remembered her winning in the Wallace Cup, as he had started watching after seeing Ash competing. Back then, he had disdainfully thought that Ash was completely out of his mind and pathetic for distracting himself from training to participate in such dumb contests. However after seeing the extremely competitive battle rounds, he had left with a small newfound respect for contests and coordinators. Back to reality, Paul had to give it to the Dawn that she definitely knew what she was doing as a coordinator. While her combinations had been nice to look at, he could easily see that her Pokemon's moves had real power behind them, which was why they were able to pull them off so nicely. Knowing that an upcoming gym in Mossdeep City had leaders that specialized in double battles, Paul made a small note of the powerful electric and water the combinations she had used.

Paul was brought out of his thoughts by the announcer announcing the coordinators that had made it on to the next round. He wasn't surprised to see Dawn up on the screen-her performance had been one of the best. However now he was anticipating how she would hold her own during a battle. Without even noticing it himself, Paul was becoming more and more interested in the blue haired girl.

* * *

With ease, Dawn had graced through her first two battles and now she was facing off against a girl who used a Milotic and a Manectric. Though Quilava and Mamoswine fought hard, a powerful Twister and Thunder combination by the opponent successfully knocked out both of Dawn's Pokemon and secured her loss. Though Paul had planned to leave earlier to avoid crossing paths with Dawn he had become so engrossed in her battle that he had completely forgotten until now. After the contest ended, he tried to slip away with the rest of the crowd as quickly as possible, but fate did not allow him such luck, and just as he was stepping out the glass doors, a familiar feminine voice called his name.

 **There you have it! The first chapter of Journey to Petalburg is complete! I am actually trying to come up with a better title, so if anyone has anyone ideas feel free to send them to me via review or message. Speaking of, reviews would be greatly appreciated :)**


	2. A Battle to Remember

"Paul?" Dawn asked tentatively.

Paul groaned internally. He considered simply ignoring her and continuing on his way out, but knowing her she would probably just follow him until she caught up. With that, he turned and faced the coordinator.

"It's too bad you lost," he stated. "You could have won if your Quilava was faster with its moves. If you ask me, it was just bringing Mamoswine down."

Dawn felt a prick of annoyance but decided to be civil. "Yeah, it's a bummer we lost, but you know what? I learned a lot of new stuff, and I'm sure I'll win the next one!" she said cheerfully. "Besides this was Quilava's first contest since it's evolved. We're still trying to get to know the limits of all its new power."

"Hmph," was all Paul said in reply, and with that he turned to go. He was a bit annoyed that she seemed so cheerful about her loss. If it were him he would already be out drilling Quilava and making sure that something like that would never happen again.

"Wait!" Dawn called as she ran to catch up to him. "You know you could at least stay a little longer to catch up with me. After all, the last time we saw each other was at the Sinnoh League."

Paul stopped in his tracks and turned to her. "What is there to catch up on? Obviously we're both still alive and well, aren't we?"

Dawn gave a huff of annoyance and decided to ignore him. "I had no idea you were traveling through Hoenn." she prompted, trying to start conversion.

"Yeah, I'm going to battle in the League to try and level up my Pokemon some more."

"That's great! Ash is in the Unova region now, challenging the Gyms and league there!" Dawn said brightly.

"I was thinking of going there too," Paul replied, "but I wanted to stay closer to Kanto since I'm working to challenge the Battle Pyramid again." He paused, then added, "I'm surprised you're not with Ash anymore."

"Well, there actually aren't any contests in the Unova region, but I heard they'll be starting them up soon." Dawn said. She looked down at her feet. "To be honest, it was pretty hard being on my own at first. I was so used to practicing with Ash and chatting with Brock while he made dinner. It was honestly really lonely being alone." Paul just looked at her. He prayed that she wasn't going to start crying in front of him, he would have no idea how to handle that, but luckily for him she quickly brightened up as she continued.

"But, I've learned a lot about myself and as a coordinator traveling on my own!" Dawn continued. "Me and my Pokemon have gotten a lot better, but of course the competition never stops as you obviously saw. It feels like the better I get, the better everyone else I'm competing against does too." Dawn suddenly realized something. "Oh yeah, by the way why were you here? Don't tell me you're thinking of starting on the path of being a coordinator?" she teased. "Of course not." Paul replied with a roll of his eyes. "I'm challenging the Lavaridge Town gym, but the leader is gone for the day. I saw you on the screen outside and decided to see if there were any good battle techniques that I could use in my battle tomorrow."

"Hey Paul," Dawn said suddenly.

"Huh? What is it?" Paul asked, turning to look at her.

"Wanna have a battle with me? You know we've never actually battled before, it's always been just you and Ash. But you know, I'm just a good a trainer as I am a coordinator."

Paul was taken aback for a moment, but then he smirked. Never being one to back down from a challenge he naturally agreed. "Fine," he replied. "This'll be a good warm up for my gym battle tomorrow. Let's do it right here right now."

"Alright!" exclaimed Dawn. "There's a battle field at the Pokemon Center, let's go right away!"

With that, the two of them exited the contest and headed towards the Pokemon center. During the short walk, Dawn worked hard to try and engage him in some casual conversation, though the most she got out of him by the time they reached the battlefield was that he currently had three badges and was planning to challenge Brandon to a rematch only after he won the Hoenn League.

"Sounds like you're working really hard," Dawn stated as they reached the battlefield. "Anyways hope you don't go easy on me just because I'm a girl," she gave him a wink as she headed to the other side.

Paul grinned. "That's not my style." he stated.

Dawn reached the other end of the battle field and called over, "This match will be 3 on 3, sound good?"

"Fine by me," replied Paul as he took out his first Pokeball. "Electivire, stand by for battle!"

The large yellow pokemon exploded from its Pokemon powerfully. Dawn became slightly nervous as she saw the Pokemon that had almost taken out Ash's Infernape during the quarter finals of the Sinnoh league. But then she snapped herself out of it. "No need to worry!" she said to herself. "We'll just do our best, and even if we lose, I'll just learn from it!" With a fresh attitude, Dawn grinned at herself and chose her first Pokemon. Knowing that Electivire was incredibly powerful, she decided to match strength for strength.

"Mamoswine, spotlight!"

The large pokemon shot out of its Pokeball and landed with a thud. "Ladies first," Paul said with a gesture.

"With pleasure," replied Dawn, not wasting a moment. "Alright Mamoswine: Ancient Power!"

Mamoswine shot the large ball of power towards Electivire immediately. "Use Brick Break," countered Paul without missing a beat. With that, Electivire smashed through Mamoswine's Ancient Power, then landed a direct super effective hit on it's head.

Dawn remained unfazed. She remembered Ash talking about how that was just what Paul's battling style was: turning the opponent's moves against them. She suddenly discovered a new strategy. "Okay Mamoswine, use Ancient Power one more time, but rapid fire!"

Mamoswine launched the move again, but this time with multiple balls of energy. Paul just sneered. "Suit yourself, we'll just use Brick Break to smash them all."  
Electivire ran forward and smashed all the Ancient Power attacks into pieces but with all that smashing the Ancient Power broke into a million little iridescent shards, almost like diamonds. The bright light caused by the setting sun reflected off of the facets and caused Electivire to become temporarily blinded.

"What the..!" Paul exclaimed.

"Remember you're not battling just any ordinary trainer!" Dawn replied with a smile. "Alright Mamoswine now use Take Down!"

With that Mamoswine scored a clean hit on an immobilized Electivire, who was blown back and smashed into a tree from the force of the collision. "Hit it while it's still down!" yelled Dawn. "Use Ice Shard!"

Mamoswine swiftly shot the attack at Electivire, who was still enveloped in a cloud of dust and smoke. "Deflect it with Fire Punch!" Paul called, and in the blink of an eye Electivire was up and struck right through the attack, charging onwards towards Mamoswine. With the added power from the Ice Shard, Electivire struck Mamoswine with what looked like a devastating flaming blow.

"Guess that's it," Paul said with a smirk.

"Not so fast!" Dawn said with a smile and Paul looked up, shocked to see that Mamoswine looked just fine. "Don't forget about Mamoswine's ability Thick Fat!" Dawn said with a smirk. "It halves the damage from super effective fire type moves!"

"Ugh!" Paul gritted his teeth. The girl was tougher than she looked.

"Let's finish this Mamoswine! Use Take Down!"

"Block it!" Paul commanded, and with one hand Electivire stopped Mamoswine in its tracks.

"Awh!" Dawn gasped. Mamoswine's eyes widened in shock as well.

"Now Brick Break," Paul commanded, and with that Electivire brought its other hand smashing down.

"Mamoswine!" Dawn yelled. With that final blow, the Tusk Pokemon had fainted. "Return!" Dawn called. "You were great Mamoswine, no need to worry we'll still win this!"

"Electivire, return." Paul said. He looked up. "I have to admit that Ancient Power was pretty good. You almost got me."

"You'll take the almost out of that sentence after this next round!" said Dawn. "Okay Togekiss I choose you!"

"Flygon, stand by for battle!"

Both flying pokemon shot out from their pokeballs and took to the sky. "A Flygon!" Dawn exclaimed to herself. "Paul must've caught it here in the Hoenn region!" Knowing that she wouldn't know any of its battling techniques she knew she had to be careful.

"You have the honors this time!" called Dawn.

"Flygon, use Sandstorm!" Flygon's eyes lit up blue and all of a sudden a vicious tornado of sand began blowing. Dawn's eyes flashed. This is just like the Thunder-Twister combination she was caught in during the contest! There was no way she was going to get beat by that same technique twice, and she suddenly thought of a counter to it. It was risky, but worth a shot.

"Okay Togekiss, use Sky Attack to get into the Sandstorm!" she commanded.

"What?!" Paul's eyes widened.

Togekiss became enveloped in a bright white light and charged head first into the raging sandstorm.

"Now spin!" commanded Dawn.

Togekiss began spinning with the Sandstorm and slowly the whirlwind of sand enveloped Togekiss, with the dazzling light from Sky Attack illuminating the sand so that it shimmered. "Now go for it!" yelled Dawn.

"Urgh! Not so fast! Flygon use Dragon Rush!"

With that Flygon charged head first towards Togekiss. The two collided and an enormous explosion followed. Togekiss emerged flying straight up, but Flygon was blown back.

"Obviously Togekiss's combination move overpowered your Flygon," Dawn said with a grin. "I'll admit that took me off guard all right," Paul said. "But get ready for this! Now Flygon use Screech!"

Flygon let out an ear splitting screech that completely trapped Togekiss.

"Now use Dragonbreath!" Paul yelled.

"Togekiss pull it together!" shouted Dawn, and Togekiss snapped back into it just before the Dragonbreath was going to hit and managed to dodge gracefully, catching both Paul and Flygon by surprise.

"Alright!" exclaimed Dawn. "Now get up close and use Aura Sphere!"

Togekiss shot forward and launched an Aura Sphere when it was just a foot away. With that Flygon pummeled to the ground with smoke rising from it's body.

"Flygon, return." Paul said roughly. "We definitely have a lot more to work on."

"Awesome job Togekiss!" Dawn exclaimed. She glanced over at Paul. "Looks like this next match will decide it all."

"Hmph. Drapion, stand by for battle!"

"Piplup, you're up!"

"Go ahead," said Paul calmly.

"Alright then, Piplup use Hydro Pump!"

Piplup let out a huge jet of water and shot it straight at Drapion. "Block it with Cross Poison." Paul called. With that, Drapion's Cross Poison held back and ultimately obliterated Piplup's Hydro Pump. "Now use Pin Missile!"

"Piplup use Whirlpool to absorb it!" Dawn countered.

Creating an enormous Whirlpool, the Pin Missiles were absorbed into the giant swirl of water, and even gave it a glow. "Now go for it!"

Piplup sent the Whirlpool flying towards Drapion.

"Use Iron Tail to cut through it." said Paul, and Drapion sliced through the Whirlpool and landed a direct hit on Piplup's head.

"The same exact thing happened to Mamoswine twice just a few minutes ago, you really need to stop falling for this" sneered Paul.

"Ugggh, Piplup use Ice Beam on Drapion's feet!" Dawn yelled, and Piplup shot his Ice Beam straight at Drapion.

"Jump out of the way with your tail Drapion!" Paul commanded.

"That's exactly what we wanted!" exclaimed Dawn. "Now use Drill Peck!"

Piplup shot up and aimed its Drill Peck at the exposed underside of Drapion.

"Grab its beak with your tail!" commanded Paul.

With that Drapion used the spikes on its tail to firmly grab Piplup by the beak, shutting of Drill Peck. "Now send it flying!" commanded Paul, and Drapion smashed Piplup towards the ground.

"Piplup, use Hydro Pump on the ground!" yelled Dawn, and Piplup's eyes snapped open at the last minute and it launched its Hydro Pump towards the ground, successfully providing a soft fall. "Now use Whirlpool!" Dawn commanded without wasting a second. As Drapion fell towards the ground it became trapped in the vortex.

"Finish it with Hydro Pump!" Dawn yelled.

"Use Pin Missile to slice through the water!" Paul countered, and with that Drapion's Pin Missile sliced through the Hydro Pump and landed a hit on Piplup. However it was still trapped in the vortex of the Whirlpool.

"I got it!" exclaimed Dawn. "Now Piplup get onto the Whirlpool!"

Piplup got back up and leaped into the water. "Pin Missile!" commanded Paul.

"Dodge and use Ice Beam to freeze it in!" yelled Dawn.

Piplup dodged the missiles with a spin then shot an Ice Beam straight at Drapion's legs, this time successfully freezing the water around it and trapping Drapion.

"Now Hydro Pump!" yelled Dawn.

Paul suddenly smiled. "You froze in Drapion's body, but don't forget it attacks with its arms!"

"Oh no!" Dawn said with realization, but it was too late. "Pin Missile!" commanded Paul.

The two attacks hit both pokemon, and both were blown out of the Whirlpool. As the dust cleared, Drapion was still standing but Piplup was knocked out. "Oh no Piplup!" cried Dawn as she ran forward to help out her Pokemon.

"Return," Paul said indifferently as he returned Drapion to its pokeball. He walked over to where Dawn and Piplup were and held out a hand. Dawn looked up, slightly surprised, but took it as he helped her up.

"That was a good battle," Dawn said.

"It sure was a battle to remember," Paul replied. "Your contest techniques definitely took me off guard."

"Pretty cool, don't you think?" Dawn said with a grin.

"Hn," was all Paul said, but he cracked a smile.

"So what are you going to do now?" Dawn asked as the two began walking off of the battle field.

"I'm staying in the Pokemon Center until tomorrow morning." Paul said curtly. "I'm challenging the Lavaridge Town Gym, remember?"

"Oh yeah!" Dawn said. "Hey, would you mind if I went and watched?"

"Huh?" Paul turned to look at her, shocked.

"It's only polite since you watched my contest," Dawn said with a wink. "And besides, I know Flannery is a fire type gym leader. Maybe your battle will give me and Quilava some new battle ides!"

Paul shoved his hands in his pockets. "You can do whatever you want. I'm challenging her first thing tomorrow morning."

With that, he turned away and entered the Pokemon Center, while Dawn stood outside thinking to herself. Could she actually be becoming friends with Paul? Well she guessed friends was stretching it, since all they did was battle. But still, she had been pleasantly surprised he had watched her contest. Since her departure alone from Sinnoh she hadn't really had many people in the stands actually watching her, which was unusual since she was so used to always having the support of Ash and Brock cheering for her in the crowd. Dawn caught herself grinning to herself and quickly snapped out of it. She decided to go get some food before going back to the Center to rest.


	3. Fiery Fights and Stormy Nights

**Here's Chapter 3! Hope you enjoy, and please please leave a review-it would totally make my day! Speaking of, a lovely reviewer mentioned to me how Togekiss is a fairy type, and so Flygon's Dragon Rush shouldn't have done anything to it. I haven't been keeping up with the XY anime or games, so I honestly no idea about the new fairy type and how the type effectiveness works now. That being said, for the purpose of this fic, all Pokemon typing will based on how they were in 4th gen aka when the Sinnoh Saga took place. Hope it's not too confusing for you guys.**

 **Anyways, without further ado here's the chapter!**

* * *

 **Paul's POV**

Paul stood outside the doors of the Lavaridge Town Gym once again. He knocked and the same girl opened the doors.

"Paul isn't it?" she said cheerfully. "My sister's back and ready for your battle!"

"Good." said Paul shortly. He paused, suddenly remembering that Dawn had asked to watch his gym battle yesterday. He looked around, but realized that the girl was nowhere in sight. He felt a strange twinge of disappointment, but quickly brushed it off. He didn't need some girl to watch him to win his badge. With that, he turned away and was just about to enter the doors when suddenly a voice from behind called his name. He turned around and saw Dawn running towards the Gym in full sprint while waving to him. Paul blinked in surprise, but quickly scowled and masked indifference.

"Who's that?" asked the little girl.

Paul hesitated for a moment, as he wasn't exactly sure if calling her his friend was too much, but Dawn had reached them now and she took over.

"I'm Dawn!" she huffed, breathing heavily. "I'm a coordinator so I'm not challenging the Gym, but I was hoping to watch my friend Paul's battle if it's okay with you?"

"I'm not the Gym leader," the little girl said with a laugh, "but I'm sure my sister will be fine with it. Come on in you guys."

With that, the little girl, Lyra was her name Paul suddenly remembered, lead the two trainers into the Gym and into a room which was transformed into a fiery battlefield. The ground was cracked in some places and you could see there was hot lava seeping from underneath.

"Well hey there!" A voice called from the other side of the field. A girl with fiery red hair stood bare footed on the blazing hot ground with her hands on her hips.

"Welcome challenger! I'm Flannery, leader of the Lavaridge Town Gym!"

"My name's Paul." Paul said curtly. "I challenge you to a Pokemon battle."

"Great! I've been dying to face a new challenger! And who's that, is your girlfriend going to be watching you?"

Both Paul and Dawn winced and Dawn blushed. "I'm not his girlfriend!" Dawn said with an uneasy laugh. "We're just friends and I just wanted to watch his battle. I'm a coordinator you see, and I was thinking I could get some inspiration for my own fire type Pokemon by watching you guys battle!"

"Well sure thing!" Flannery said cheerfully. "Anyone's welcome to watch in this gym! So, Paul, you ready to get started?"

"I'm ready whenever you are," Paul replied.

"Good luck Paul!" Dawn cheered as she took a seat in the stands. Paul just ignored her. He couldn't let her distract him from winning this badge. Dawn sent Quilava out to watch next to her. "Now Quilava, I want you to watch how Flannery's fire type pokemon battle!"

Quilava happily agreed and took a seat next to Dawn.

* * *

The battle between Paul and Flannery had been fierce. Paul's first pokemon Magmortar had been easily defeated by Flannery's Magcargo's Ancient Power, but he retaliated with his Gastrodon, which knocked out both Magcargo and Numel. Then it was defeated by a Solarbeam from Flannery's final pokemon Torkoal. In the end, however, Paul managed to pull out a win with his Electivire.

With the battle over, Paul thanked Flannery for a good battle and received his fourth Hoenn badge. Dawn, Piplup and Quilava raced down from the stands.

"Great job Paul!" Dawn exclaimed happily.

"Thanks," Paul said indifferently.

"It was a great battle," Flannery said with a smile. "So I'm guessing you're challenging the Sinnoh League Paul?"

"Yeah, I'm trying to win all eight badges so I can enter." Paul said. "Then I suggest going to the Petalburg City Gym next." said Flannery. "The leader there is incredibly tough. I can tell you're an experienced trainer, and it will be a good challenge for you."

"Very well, I'll head there next. Thank you for a great battle." Paul gave a small bow and turned to leave the gym.

"Hey I'm headed to Petalburg City too!" Dawn piped, following him out. "My next contest is there, and May-she's a friend of mine and Ash's- said she would be back home then so we could meet up and she would watch me compete!"

"Well looks like I'll be seeing you around more than I thought." Paul said stiffly.

"Actually, I was hoping to ask you something." Dawn said shyly.

Paul stopped and turned to her. "Well, what is it?" He looked at her warily.

"Well I had a thought...since we're both headed to the same place next, what do you say we go there together?"

"Huh?!" Paul stared at her, taken aback.

Dawn laughed nervously, "It's fine if you don't want to, I totally get it if you prefer traveling alone, I mean I just thought since we were going to the same place we'd probably see each other there anyways and I mean it would just be convenient- "

"You're talking too much," Paul cut her off, "and it's giving me a headache."

"Oh, sorry!" Dawn squeaked nervously. Paul gave a huff and continued walking with his hands in his pockets while Dawn lingered behind. "You can do whatever you want," He said as he kept walking, leaving a stunned Dawn behind. While he wasn't exactly yearning for a traveling companion at all, much less it being Dawn, it could be beneficial to travel with her. Having someone to battle with to train could never hurt.

* * *

 **Dawn's POV**

Dawn watched as Paul began walking away. She was just deciding to turn around and leave, seeing that Paul obviously didn't want her tagging along, when he turned around and looked at her.

"If you're coming you better hurry up," He called.

Dawn grinned happily. Though she didn't agree with everything Paul believed, especially his methods of training, she missed traveling with friends. Dawn hoped that that would change by the time they reached Petalburg City she could whole-heartedly call him one. "I'm coming!" She yelled cheerfully as she raced down the road to catch up with Paul.

 **~~~That night~~~~**

Dawn and Paul walked the whole rest of the day. Though Paul wasn't much of a talker, Dawn still enjoyed the company, and she piped up every once in awhile trying to spark up some conversation. Most of Paul's answers were either just one word or extremely clipped and short, which irritated Dawn at first but then she reminded herself she was the one that wanted to travel with him and she knew what she was getting into. Besides she was confident that sooner or later he would drop the icy mask and she was curious to know who the real Paul was under the facade. As nightfall began to approach, they found themselves in the middle of a thick forest, still a good distance from the next town.

"Why don't we camp here?" called Dawn, pointing to a small clearing. Paul walked over to check it out.

"Yeah this looks fine," said Paul as he began unloading his stuff. "I'll get dinner ready!" Dawn said cheerfully. To be honest she was incredibly hungry and couldn't wait to get food in her system. Walking the whole day really did burn those calories. Dawn sent out all of her pokemon, which included Mamoswine, Quilava, Pachirisu, Togekiss, Piplup, and her recently captured Swablu. Swablu was still learning the ropes of performing in a contest, so she had been just watching till this point. However Dawn was determined to enter her in the Petalburg contest. She had left Buneary, on the other hand, in Hearthome City. Dawn could truly tell that Buneary had a passion to Pokemon a real Pokemon Model, so she had left her under the good hands of Valerie and her Lopunny, and Dawn was sure that the next time they met, Buneary would be the greatest Pokemon model in all of Sinnoh.

* * *

 **Paul's POV**

Paul watched Dawn in slight awe as she and her Pokemon worked together to begin setting up for dinner. Usually when Paul traveled if he wasn't staying in a Pokemon center he would just eat a sandwich or some snacks and gave his pokemon some basic store bought pokemon food. But Dawn was going all out and cooking up a storm. Feeling a bit awkward, he decided to busy himself with setting up his tent. "Food's ready!" Dawn called after a few minutes. Paul finished staking the tent and walked up to where Dawn had set up a blanket and on it there was a big bowl of stew as well as bread and a salad. As for the pokemon, she had prepared two big mountains of pink poffins, one specifically for Mamoswine and the other for the rest of the Pokemon.

"You know there's enough for two right?" Dawn said curiously, which snapped Paul back into reality and he realized that he had been zoned out. "Right, thanks."

Paul said as he began scooping some of the stew into a bowl. "Let your pokemon out too!" Dawn said cheerfully. "I made lots of my special poffins, and your pokemon deserve a treat after that battle this morning!"

Paul sent out his five pokemon, which were Electivire, Drapion, Flygon, Absol and Aggron. They hesitantly tasted the poffins at first, but once they discovered that they were really delicious they all happily munched away. Paul himself tasted the stew and was surprised it was actually delicious. He found himself getting a second helping and soon enough all the food was gone, and both the trainers and the Pokemon were happily full. As they cleaned up, Paul and his pokemon even lent Dawn a hand in washing the delicious. Dawn was pleased with the improvements the meal had made in their relationship. Many Paul wasn't always a heartless jerk.

"Okay guys," Dawn said as she packed away the last of the dried dishes. "Let's practice a few new combinations for our Petalburg Contest before we sleep!" Her pokemon all cheered, and she turned to Paul. "We'll be practicing just up ahead," She told him.

"Fine. I'll be doing some training with my Pokemon here then," he said.

* * *

"Okay Swablu let's practice some of your combinations! I want to enter you in the appeals round of the Petalburg contest!" Swablu chirped and waved its wings happily. "Alright, let's start with Mist!"

Swablu took to the air and let down a huge cloud of mist.

"Now fly into it and use Safeguard!" Dawn commanded.

Swablu flew in gracefully and then began glowing a beautiful aqua. Its glowing body reflected off of the mist particles in the cloud and created a dazzling display.

"Amazing!" cheered Dawn, and Swablu floated back down happily. "Alright let's do it one more time to make sure we get it perfect!" Swablu chirped happily and took off once again.

Meanwhile at the edge of the clearing Paul was watching Dawn and her Pokemon practice. Though Paul had originally wanted to punch himself for letting Dawn tag along on the road to Petalburg City due her insistent chirping and need to always be having a conversation, he realized that she wasn't all that bad. Sure she could be annoying at times, but she was genuinely nice to him and didn't seem to judge him for his battling and training style. What's more, she definitely could cook and her happy energy was almost getting to him, though he would never show it. And now, looking at her practice, Paul was beginning to respect her as a formidable trainer. An enormous Discharge from her Pachirisu snapped Paul out of his thoughts, and with that he retreated a bit further into the woods to find his own spot to start training.

* * *

The two trainers were so into their training that they didn't even notice until they were literally being poured on. Large stormclouds had formed and with them came a deluge of rain and thunder. Both Pau

* * *

l and Dawn returned their Pokemon and raced back to their camp.

"Looks like we'll just have to stay in our tents for the rest of the night," Paul called over the pouring rain.

"Yeah slight problem," Dawn said nervously. "I don't actually have a tent."

Paul stared at her as if she had just sprouted another head. "What do you mean you don't have a tent? Where do you stay when you're traveling?"

"I usually make it to a Pokemon Center before nightfall, and if not...well I've never really had to sleep out when it's been raining before so I just never really noticed."

Paul continued to stare at her through the sheets of water. He knew he would regret what he was about to do for the rest of his life but there was no other choice.

"Just get in," he said, more harshly than he had initially intended. "What?" Dawn asked, shocked.

"Are you deaf?" hissed Paul. "Just get in my tent, unless of course you prefer drowning in this storm?"

"Oh...right!" Dawn recovered quickly and followed Paul into his tent. It was small but big enough for both of them to set up their sleeping bags. They both layed down, and Dawn smiled, feeling safe and warm in the tent with Paul while the storm roared on outside.

"Hey Paul," Dawn said, and Paul grunted to let her know he was listening. "Thanks. For the tent, and for letting me travel with you."

Paul didn't reply but Dawn didn't expect him to, and she felt satisfied that he had at least heard her gratitude. With that, she closed her eyes, succumbing to fatigue and letting sleep take over.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! If there was anything you liked/didn't like please leave a review and I'll try my best to improve! It would make my day!**

 **xx Violet**


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